Happiness
by FishyRawrz
Summary: Miley has graduated and moved out of her dad's house. She's getting a place with her boyfriend Nick. Will it prove too much for them to handle, living without the help of their parents. And maybe ultimately causing them to split up? Niley.
1. Trailer

_**Happiness**_

_Miley Stewart and Nicholas Michaels were fresh out of high school. And they had their hearts set on getting a place of their own, proving to every doubtful soul, that they could do it. They lived in a small town but that didn't mean the prices on rent, was low. The town was next to the ocean so each place had a killer view. The two young lovers found that the best they could do was a 3 room apartment that included, one bathroom, a kitchen area, a living room, which the kitchen area was located, and a bedroom. But the bedroom was too small for their bed, so they turned it into a 'storage/whatever' room. And since they had just moved out of their parents' houses, and her and Nick had a lot of stuff each, that room was filled. They decided to just make the living room the bedroom. And the view outside the windows in the now 'bedroom', was of course the beautiful, sparkling ocean._

_They have to make plan of their own without the advice of their parents… out on their own now._

_How will they adjust to their new living? Coping with the bills on their own._

_Will the small living space just add pressure to their relationship and test their limits (being in such close quarters with someone, would make anyone go insane), or will it make them stronger somehow?_

_Will they just give up on everything and each other and move back in with their parents?_

_Is it true what they say- love is all you really need to be happy… Or could money take away the stress and you be comfortable enough to be happy?…_

_**Coming Soon.**_

***Okay, Im so new to this fanfic stuff, obviously, so just bare with me. Im not used to writing everything on Word. So it may take a bit longer to get out. But Im trying my best to understand it and get use to.  
Reviews maybe? Though Im pretty sure this sucks, Im not really that good at trailers.**


	2. Moved In

Nick walked in with the last box in his hands. His body had become sore from lugging their belongings up the stairs to their new living space. All he wanted to do was lay on a comfy couch or bed, just to relieve all the tension his muscles were now carrying around with him. He placed the box on top of another one and walked over to where his girl was. Sliding his back down the wall of the living room, pushing his legs out in front of him in a semi-comfortable way, he let out a sigh of relaxation. "Last box delivered, ma'am," Nick's eyes moved to Miley. "I think we should have set up the bed before we brought up all the boxes and totes," moving his gaze to the mattress and metal framing that lined the wall less then 20 feet in front of him.

Miley moved her body up off the floor and placed herself against the wall next to him. "Yeah… but if we would have done that, then we wouldn't have gotten any work done. You would be too lazy and I would be the one having to do all the work."

He protested. "That's not true." She gave him a look and he caved. "Okay, so it is." Nick slipped his arm in-between the wall and the curve at the bottom of her back, pulling her closer to whisper in her ear. "But we would have to break in the place sooner or later…" His lips curve up, plumping up his checks and his eyes looked at her for a reaction.

She looked at them and saw the _need _and _want,_ hidden in them. Miley rolled her eyes. Typical Nick to have brought that up. Her eyes traveled to down his face and to the smile that was widely spread. She couldn't fight the urge and leaned, kissing him a moment. As she pulled away, she said, "too bad the bed isn't set up…"

He looked over at the bed frame, examining it, he pushed his lips to the side of his mouth for a minute. Then, taking a breath in as he started to talk. "Baby, my body may be tired…" he moved his eyes to her, "but I can get it set up in record time." Nick smiled when he heard her laugh.

"I'm sure you could." Miley patted his leg a few times and got up from the floor. She stretched, causing curtain joints to pop. She sighed, "what shall we have for dinner?"

Nick groaned at he got up. "Well, since we don't have any furniture, that includes a fridge… I'd say that we have to eat out. Or we can call take out," he smiled. "Personally, I like the stay in and order option."

"I really don't want to look at this mess anymore right now, it reminds me of how much work we have in front of us right now. How about we just go out and bring it back here," speaking her option. This way, she would be able to escape the mess they would have to organize, for a little while, and they would come back and eat here, like Nick wanted. Win for both of them. Miley was good at finding way about things that would make everyone happy.

Nick nodded with a smile. "Sounds like a plan." he placed his hand on her hip and kissed her forehead.

* * *

(Nick's POV)

As we walked down the sidewalk, the sun was setting. I couldn't take my eyes from her. Everything on her was glowing. Her skin. Her eyes, the little threads in them were sparkling… even the lip balm on her lips even shimmered a bit more. With each step, her hair that rested on her shoulders would wave in the low wind that was blowing against it, ever so gently. It made her look like she was in slow motion. Then I guess she sensed me watching her, cause she looked over at me and smiled. I was already wearing a smirk. I squeezed her hand a little and she batted her eyelashes and dropped her head a little as she blushed. I bit the inside of my lip. _I_ would be living with _her_, now, in a small place instead of in my parents' roomy house. And you know what… I couldn't be more happy.

Miles is a beautiful soul. And well, have you ever wondered why people paint nude pictures of woman? I've found out the answer to that. Now, I'm not all "artistic", but her body is a masterpiece, in my eyes. It is art. God must have spent extra time on her. I can see Him, licking the pad of his thumb and running it over her, making sure her curves are as smooth as _heavenly_ possible. She just-… for lack of a better word… so, perfect. Even the flaws that she points out to me, captivate me. She's my special rose, that bloomed just for me. Every time I saw her, it was like the very air in my lungs were being sucked out my mouth, I would try to fight it but… she's just so damn breath taking. It drove me insane.

And now I'm going to be living with her. Being able to sleep in a bed next to her every night. Nothing is better than this, right now, right here. Me and her, together. There is no doubt in the world, that I love her.

I just kept watching her and before I knew it, we were back at our place. _Our place… _I like the sound of that.

We walked up to _our place_ and we pulled up a cozy spot on the floor next to the windows and watched the last of the sun set in the ocean while we ate our supper, turkey sandwiches and 2 bottles of diet coke.

I finished before her and she told me to set up the bed. Ohhh joy. This should go well. NOT. I wonder how many times I'm going to hurt myself. She watched me as I took off my shirt as I worked up a sweat moving the bed frame pieces. The cool breeze coming in the window felt good. I looked over at her a few times and she seemed like she couldn't take her eyes off my chest and arms. Making me chuckle.

Miley watched me and ate her sandwich slowly. Taking little bites as if she was watching some type of show. She would try to hold in laughs when it looked like I couldn't figure it out, but I only acted like that to make her laugh. Psh. I knew what I was doing…

(Normal POV)

"UH… you stupid, freakin-… WORK." Nick growled at the bed frame he was trying to put together. He was trying to put the bolts in it, to but it together, but every time he would put the bolt in the hole and tried to screw it in, the frame would move and push the bolt out. "Fu-UH!" Nick tried to not swear in front of Miley, and putting this together was challenging him on that.

Miley spoke up, "do you want some help?" But she just received a snap from Nick.

"NO." He looked up at her quickly, and he saw her face get a little paler, he sighed. "I can do this. Just finish your supper," speaking softer to her. Nick propped the frame up with his knee, in hopes that maybe it would help him out a little bit. "The first one is always the toughest to get, but after you get it. It only gets easier."

"Are you sure? Cause, I can come over and hold it up for you. It's no a big deal. It's not like this is Christmas dinner or something, this is just a sandwich, Nick." trying again to offer her helping hand.

"Mi. I got it. Even if I have to tape the bolts in so they don't fall out. I got it. Okay?" As he viewed it, he was the guy and _he_ was the one that had to do this. On his own.

Miley got done with the sandwich and continued to watch Nick put the bed together. Twenty minutes later he finally got the first bolt screwed in. She clapped and he smiled. Surely proud of himself. "See, I got it. Now it only gets easier." Nick moved to the next part he had to put together.

She started to get up from the floor. Nick never took his eyes off the frame he was working on. "Alright, well since you don't need my help. I might as well go unpack the box in the bathroom," her shampoo and beauty stuff she had at her dad's house in her bathroom, "and put them away. And if you still aren't done, I'm going to get in the shower. Maybe you can join me if you finish fast enough…" Nick looked up at her and they shared smiles. As she walked away she wiggled her hips a little more, knowing he was watching her walk away.

Nick couldn't help but hold that smile on his face as he continues to work. But soon there was a knock at the door. "Miley can you get that?" He hollered but when he listened close for her answer, he heard the water going. Nick knew he was going to have to get it but he almost had this bolt in and he thought if he put it down then it would snap or something, so he just hollered for the person to enter. He glanced over his shoulder when he heard the door open and saw his best friend, Joseph Jones. "Hey bro," greeting him. And when he had the bolt in he stood up.

Joe was looking around, taking in the place. "Heyy… nice place you got here." Kindly lying to Nick. It scream to him, that he would not be coming to Nick's to watch a game… or to even hang out, it was just too small for fun.

"What made you drop by?" Watching his friend looked around the room and then at the bed frame.

"Oh uhm, I just wanted to check up on you and see how everything was going." Joe looked at him with a nod. Trying to hide the sympathetic look that was creeping out on his face. But then he felt movement inside and it made him make another face.

Nick saw him tense up quickly. "Are you okay dude?" Joe nodded. "Then what's with the face?"

"I'm holding in gas." Joe stated plainly.

Nick chuckled. "Since when do you ever do that?"

"Since I entered your freakishly small place and am now fearing, if I let one rip we might all actually die." At least in the close quarters of a car, you have the wind coming in the windows. But in here, Joe figured there would be less air circulation, less breathable air, leading to death. He bit in his lips in, like it would help somehow. "Sorry bro but I got to GO." He quickly left the way he came. Nick shook his head and went back to what he was doing.

He got done and put the mattress on it and started his way to the hallway, leading to the bathroom. But soon Miley was coming out and they both were now blocking the hall. Miley tried to move past him, and Nick tried to move past her. But it didn't go as smoothly as they thought it would.

Miley ended up stepping on Nick's foot and he cried out in pain and quickly bent over as Miley kept saying "I'm sorry," over and over. She turned to try to see his foot but ended up elbowing him in the eye. "Oh my gosh." She gasped and put her hand over her mouth. Nick was groaning and was backing his way out of the hall and to the bed.

He chuckled a little but was in pain. "Oww my eye… my foot…" he rolled back and forth on his back, on the bed, as he held his foot in the air and kept his eye shut tightly.

Miley gently sat down next to him. Nick rolled to his side to face her and kept whining and chuckling a little. "I'm so sorry." She felt so bad. She bit the corner of her lip and watched him. Not sure what to do for him. They didn't have any ice, cause they didn't have a refrigerator. "I'm sorry."

Slowly the pain in his foot went down and he stopped rolling. He looked up at her, though it hurt to move his eyes around. "It's fine, Mi." trying to make her feel better about it. He had her lay down next to him.

Her eye brows were squishing the skin between them together. "You are going to have a black eye Nick…" She felt so horrible.

"I'll be fine. I'll tell everyone that we had our first fight in the new place and you punched my eye." He was trying to make a joke but she didn't find it funny and slapped his arm lightly as he chuckled. "I'll be _fine,"_ Nick restated. He brushed reached up and slowly his hand glided along her silky skin on her cheek and his eyes were soaring through her caring ones.

It wasn't going to be the last and only time, something like that is going to happen. In close quarters, you are bound to step on some toes.

Miley had Nick help with making the bed and they settled in for the night. Usually your first night in a new place, you can hardly sleep. And it may take up to a few days or weeks to get used to it. With all the new noises and just being unfamiliar to you. But Miley and Nick's first night, they were comfortable in each others arms. Comfortable enough to not have a hard time falling asleep. After their long tiring day, they fell into a fast deep sleep.

***There is more to the story. It doesnt stop here. Please review if you wish to see more? And tell me how you liked it :]**


	3. A Special Delivery

They woke up to a ringing/buzzing noise. It was Nick's trac-phone on the hard-wood floor. "It's on your side." Nick groaned and flipped over to face away from where the noise was coming from.

Miley rose from under the blanket and into the brisk air that came with the early morning. She bent forward and grabbed the phone, placing it to her ear after pressing the green button. "Hello?" she answered with her free hand coming up to be pressed to her forehead, trying to wake herself up so she could understand what the person was saying. "Daddy?… Do you know what time it is?" She looked around the room with squinted eyes but there was no clock yet.

"It's 7am. The time in which adults get up, when they live on their own, in their own place." Her dad stated in a _hint-hint _way.

"But you usually don't get up 'til after 10..." Miley responded back.

"…Is Nicholas sleeping in the bed, beside you?" Changing the subject.

Forgetting it was her own place with Nick, "uhm noo. No. He's sleeping on the floor." She turned and pushed Nick out of the bed so she wasn't lying to her father.

He heard a thud and a loud groan. "And what was that?"

"It seems, Nick isn't asleep anymore…" Then she remembered where she was. "Wait. This is our place, he can sleep in the bed next to me, Dad. And you have no say in the matter. Cause we are on our own now." She smiled, fully awake now. "And you know what?" Not waiting for him to guess, "we did a _proactive, initiative_, activity last night." Miley nodded and waited for her dad to speak.

Nick's head popped up from the floor, his chin was at the edge of the mattress. "Why did you just tell your dad that? I still have to see him at holidays, you know…" He stated with fear clearly showing in his eyes as the picture of Billy Ray coming toward him with a bread knife, (the picture Miley's dad planted in the back of Nick's head, with a stern threat noted to it), re-entered his mind.

His blood boiled at the thought of someone touching his daughter. "I'm going to guess its was _Lover Boy's_ idea for the groping?"

"It was mutual." Miley answered. "So is there a reason why you called, exactly?"

"…I wanted you up so when I drop off Uncle Earl's old couch and fridge-," he heard Miley groan. "Stop. I cleaned it for you. They actually look pretty nice. And I'll help _Lover Boy _set the fridge up."

"_Lover Boy _has a name you know. It's Nick." Miley's eyes were locked on Nick's.

Mr. Stewart rolled his eyes half way. "Fine, tell Mick I'm on my way." Purposely messing up his name. "So be ready." He hung up before his daughter could say another word.

Miley sighed and hung up the phone. "Get up, my dad's on his way." She started to get out of bed but then froze and looked back in Nick's direction after hearing a noise.

Nick had fall back on the floor, laying on it once again. "I'm so dead."

She leaned forward, placing her knees on the edge of the bed and her hands down to prop her up so she could view him on the floor. "And they say girls are the dramatic ones..."

His vision went from the back of his eyelids to her perfectly curved face. "I'm not being dramatic, if you notice the way your dad talks about me, looks at me, or acts around me, you would understand. He hates me."

"I don't blame him," she said. Making Nick quickly sit up right with a shocked jaw drop. "Nick think about it… You stole his princess. And you invade her kingdom." She tired to hold in a smile but it started to show. "He doesn't hate you. He just-… doesn't like you, much. BUT, try not to think about it. He will warm up to the fact that we are together."

Giving her a disbelieving look, "and when will that be? How long will it take?"

She leaned down and gave him a small pleasant kiss. Staying close to his face, their eyes searching each others. "You cant rush things like this. One day he will like you. Trust me." She stands up and was about to head to the bathroom but turned back to state something else. "It wouldn't hurt to be protective about me. You know, show him his little girl is in good hands. That she has someone who will stand up and protect her. Not only do I find it attractive…" She winked at him and gave him a smile. "But dads usually find it reassuring and they will start to warm up to the guy faster."

"I got it… I'll have Joe break in and pretend to rough you up but then I come in and save the day!" He happily nods at her, liking his plan.

Miley shakes her head. "I would expect an idea like that from Joe, himself, but not you. I'm sorry sweetie." She shakes her head again and attempts her way to the bathroom once more.

But Nick quickly gets up from the floor. "Wait Mi…" She turns her attention back on him. "Where are we going to put the couch and stuff?"

She let out a long sigh. "I don't know. But we have to have a fridge for milk and _ice._" Motioning to his eye and foot. "And things for that nature. And it's free. We can use all the help we can get. Even if it was once Uncle Earl's…" Miley pulled the corner of her lips down into a frown.

Nick made a wigged out face "It was Uncle Earl's?" He paused for her to reconfirm her statement. "Just by use putting our milk in there… We will get drunk when we drink it, cause of the alcohol vapors left over from him only having beer in it!" He sucks in a breath. "And the only reason why we are getting it is because he needed a bigger fridge for more room, for _more_ beer!"

"I know Nick." Saying it harshly, which she didn't intend but she rolled with it because Nick was talking badly about her Uncle, even if it was true. She still loved her Uncle Earl. "But its better then just an ice chest. And my dad said he cleaned it."

"Whatever but we still have like, no place to put it." Giving back a point with a little bit of attitude.

"I know Nick! You already said that." She took off to the bathroom.

He heard the door slam, then he tossed himself on the bed. Even with this pressure, the thought of this not working out, hasn't entered his mind yet. It wasn't enough to push him to that edge.

Less than 15 minutes later Miley came back out of the bathroom with her robe on, her hair all done and walked right to the store room to find her box of clothes. She didn't even look at Nick. From inside the room she hollered, "while I'm in here do you want me to get your clothes out for you?" She turned her head to try to hear his answer but saw him at the doorway, looking at her. Miley grabbed her clothes, figuring since he was there he could get his own. She started to push her way by him but he wouldn't budge. "Nick, let me go." She motioned her hand to the bathroom that was straight behind Nick, on the other end of the little hallway.

But he didn't comply to her. Instead he stood his ground and after a moment he asked "are we mad at each other?" Miley just looked at him. "Cause if we are I didn't mean for-" Miley spoke up.

"I know. But you just kept saying stuff like I didn't already know. Which I do. You always repeat the facts like I didn't hear you or something, when you had my full attention. And you know it irritates me when you do that, Nick. Even when my dad does it, I get upset with him."

"I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." Nick said sincerely.

Miley nodded. "I'm sorry too." She looked down at the floor between then but Nick lifted her chin and kissed her, to seal the apology.

Just as they were kissing, Mr. Stewart walked in. "Good God, boy! Cant you keep your lips off her for one moment to open the door?" He paused to stare at them. "I knocked! I do not like to be ignored."

Miley was the first to pull away. "Sorry Daddy. We didn't hear you." Her cheeks, forehead, chin and ear turning cherry red from the heat rushing to her head.

"And I see why…" eyeing both of them, "too busy sucking face."

Nick had notice he was getting more of the _eyeing_ than Miley. He just kept his eyes to the floor, momentarily looking up to the man's face when he spoke. "Sorry about that, Sir."

He stared onward for a bit more then spoke up. "How about you come and help me with the things, boy." Not phrasing it like a question.

Nick nodded and started for the door and exited. Leaving Miley's dad with her.

Once Nick was gone, Miley saw her dad loosen up a little bit. "Daddy-"

Billy Ray went over and hugged his little girl. "Hey darlin."

She pushed him off. "You know I love Nick- Why do you have to be so mean toward him? Can't you pretend to like him, at least?" He did his 'half eye roll' again and Miley slapped his chest to get his attention. "I'm serious!" Peering into her father's eyes. "Please?"

He just couldn't object to those round, crystal blue eyes of hers. "Fine, for you." He quickly got the best engulfing hug his daughter could give. He smiled. "And its only pretending! No actual liking involved."

She pulled away from the hug but kept her hands where his arms go on his sides. "It's a start." She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Thank you. Now go help him with the things." She attempted to push him out the door.

The older man chuckled. "Alright. Stop pushing." He started down the steps.

Then Miley hollered, "and no _accidentally_ squashing him with the couch OR fridge, by dropping it on him when bringing them up the stairs." She shot a warning look to him when he looked back.

"Now, would I do that?"

"Daddy." Still glaring at him. "I would never forgive you."

"I wont!" He shook his head and kept going. "I'll try to play nice," he whispered low enough for only him to hear.

Nick and Mr. Stewart carried up the couch first. Maneuvering it through the doorway proved to be a challenge. Billy Ray wanted to give up and take it back down but Nick made it work. Which, impressed the both of them, but neither showed it.

The both of the lifted it over the bed, Nick having to crawl over it as Mr. Stewart walked around it. They placed it in front of the windows. Miley smiled at them. It looked like they were bonding well. If it was an act, Mr. Stewart was an award winning actor at that moment, cause he was shaking Nick's hand and it looked like there was a pleased smiled on both of their faces.

They ended up putting the fridge in the bathroom, not only hiding its _unique_ look and smell from visitors, but there was just the perfect corner in that room for it. Nick was fine with it, because he thought it was convenient this way. Which made Billy Ray laugh a little.

Nick and Miley stood next to the curb as her dad drove off. Nick looked at Miley as they started back up toward their apartment. "Is it just me, or did your dad actually seem like he liked me?"

Miley nodded once. "You must have made an impression today." She smiled at him. Choosing to keep her talk with her dad from him, to let Nick stay proud about himself.

He kept a smile on his face for most of the remainder of the night. Finally feeling excepted by her dad.

***

***This chapter was kind of dull. I guess you could say it just the set up  
for the drama to work its way into their happy apartment.**

**Sorry it's taking me so long to type this up.  
****After making videos for years and suddenly change to this way...  
Yeah, Im still not used to it, but lets hope that I get better at this, soon!  
*fingers crossed***

**Review please?**


	4. Kindling The Fire

The next morning they woke up to Nick's phone once again. But it wasn't a phone call this time. It was from the alarm he had set, going off. It was time for work. Time to earn some money to take care of him and his girl.

Miley was awaken by the noise. Flash back to yesterday but she didn't even move an eye lid. And she noticed Nick was doing the same so she turned to face him, seeing he was laying on his left side, facing away from her. "Nick," she said trying to get a reaction from him, but he didn't budge so she placed her hand on his shoulder and rocked his body back and forth. "Baby, it's time to get up. It's time to get ready for work." Nick rolled to his back and placed his hand on her shoulder and started feeling around. "What are you doing?" Then she giggled as his hand was moving up her neck, his fingers slightly gliding along her skin, making it tickle.

He still hadn't opened his eyes. "I'm trying to find the snooze button." After he spoke, a smile forced its way apon his lips.

"Will you stop fooling around, you're going to make yourself late." She took his hand off her.

Pretending he didn't hear her, "maybe it's not up _there_, and its farther _down…_" But before he could touch her body again, she slapped it down on the bed. "Ow, that hurt." He raised it up over his torso to look at it.

She immediately felt guilty, so grabbed his hand and kissed the now tender spot. "Better?" Before Nick was able to respond, she spoke again. "Good, now get up." Miley patted his thigh a few times.

"Gosh, you are worse than my mom," he told her as he started to climb out of bed. He turned and saw her not getting up. "What are you doing? You have to go to work too."

"Not for another hour. But you… You have," she looked at the time on his phone, "less than twenty minutes."

"But how are you going to get to work if I don't drive you?"

"Taylor is going to swing by and I'm going to get a ride with her to the hair salon." The hair salon was where Miley worked.

"Doesn't it take you girls like over an hour to get ready to go places?"

"You just don't want to be the only one up." She pointed out, trying to get to the bottom of it.

"Nooo," suddenly sounding like a child. "I just wanna get in the shower with you." His eyes getting sad and his lower lip slowly being pushed out. "We haven't had a chance yet."

She couldn't hold in the giggle. "If we do that then you will be late for work and you know it."

"Whats the worst what Mr. Millhouse could do to me? Fire me over 10 lousy minutes?" Clearly unaware of how a job works.

---

"That's coming out of your pay Mr. Michaels," Nick's boss said. "Not a good first impression." He shook his head. "I hope you know that each minute you were late, I take a dollar out come pay day. And you were fifteen minutes late." Nick started to say something but he cut him off. "I like to talk business… not excuses. I don't care if your mama is sick and that's the reason for your late arrival. Rules are rules and I will not bend them for a irrespirable, worthless, lazy punk such as yourself. Got me?" Nick muttered something. "I SAID-"

"Yes, I got you!" Nick got another glare from his boss for cutting him off. Talking disrespectfully to him was probably going to come about and bite him in the butt come pay day. Nick should have said 'yes sir' instead of raising his voice back at him.

When his boss walked away and left him standing outside to tend to the shopping carts the customers had, Nick let it out some of his frustration from the conversation. Mumbling quietly but full of anger at the same time, "who are you to call me that? You don't know me!" Nick started to utter names, any that he could think of, came rolling off his tongue.

---

Miley had beat Nick home and was eager to hear about his first day of work. She was startled by the door slamming. Nick was still mad from that conversation. The words still rang in his ears like his boss was in his mind, taunting him over and over. Miley felt like she was going to regret asking, but she did anyway, "how was work?"

Nick tossed his keys down on the stand. "He's going to rightfully earn the title of boss from hell." Nick kicked off his shoes and laid down on the bad. His body feeling the instant relief after a long day of pushing carts back. "Your's?"

She just looked at him. Not wanting to tell him she had fun washing people's hair, assisting the hairdressers, talking about gossip and other girl-oriented subjects like Channing Tatum, with the other girls in the salon. "It wasn't as bad as yours."

After he received a kiss from her, in her attempt to make him feel better about it, he decided he would just go to the batting cages in town and blow steam there. He told her what he was going to do and she understood, so she agreed that it was a good idea. Nick also gave her some money, that he had from his allowance, for her to go get something for supper and that he would just eat at the batting cages. Nachos or something.

Nick walked into the storage room to search for his baseball bat. But after about ten minutes of going through boxes, he couldn't find it, which added to his frustrations. "MILEY," he hollered not so kindly from the room and then appeared in the doorway of it. "Have you seen my bat?" His eyebrows were raised up.

"No I haven't. Not since you put it in the box when you were at your parents' house…" She stated as she walked by him to enter the room to look for it.

"Well you were the only one that has been rummaging through this stuff in here. Maybe you moved it?" He meant it as a question but his tone made it sound anything but.

She knew he gets this way, and she knew the best thing to do was just give him space like she would one of her friends if their blood was boiling. "Noo, I didn't touch it. I haven't seen it, in order to touch it. Maybe it fell out in the back of the car… Do you want me to go down and look?" She said, trying her best to keep her tone calm toward him, but she hates being treated and talked that way, like she was the cause of a problem when she wasn't at all.

"If it fell out, wouldn't you think I would have seen it?" Glaring at her.

Miley had enough. She pushed him out of her way and went down to the car. Sure enough it had fallen out and was hidden under the backseat. She turned around to meet him behind her waiting on the curb. "I told you." With both hands she pressed it to his chest, catching him off guard causing him to stumble back a step. "Have fun." She left him to go off to the batting cages without a kiss, or a goodbye. He didn't even get a 'see you when you get back'.

****I know this is kind of short, the last few were over 2000 words, but the story is coming to an end soon, (probably two more chapters or so?) then I started on Staking Around Love which will be longer than this one, chapter wise, not word count.  
I lit a small fire under their feet. And they are started to get a little uncomfortable. And i havnt even gotten started on the managing money yet. That will probably come about in the next chapter. And I'll probably skip ahead in time too.  
I enabled the anonymous review thing, so if you dont have an accoun on here, you can still leave your thoughts.  
Review please? **


	5. Gazing

Nick was at the batting cages until it closed. He was now sitting in his car outside their apartment, unsure what was going to happen when he walked through the door.

Was she still mad about how he blamed her when it wasn't her fault? And from how he channeled his anger from his work day, at her?

He was trying to think up what all he could say to her. Nick checked the clock, 9:47. He figured he had better get up there, it was getting late. He dreaded the whole walk up the stairs, and when he reached for the doorknob he was surprised to find it wasn't locked like he thought it would be. Nick slowly opened to and stepped inside. Turning his head left, seeing she wasn't in the bathroom, turning it right and seeing she wasn't in the storage room. Then finally he looked at the bed, she wasn't there.

His eyes noticed something moving on the couch and he looked to see Miley laying on it, she appeared to be sleeping. He placed his sports bag just inside of the storage room door, off to the side so no one would trip over it and he walked quietly over to the couch, with each step, he would gently place his shoes down on the hardwood floor and he got down on his knees when he got next to her. The window was open and he could hear the waves from the ocean outside seemed to be timed just right with her breathing. He watched her skin shine in the moonlight coming in through the window.

After he had left, the apartment was silent, other the ocean waves and seagulls and occasional screams from children playing in the sand and water- but to her, it was till quiet. Miley played cards in the bed for a while listening to the radio. But only to get tired of what seemed like the same songs playing every hour and losing hand after hand of solitaire- she was convinced the cards hated her but she wasn't really into the game anyways- thoughts of Nick would pop up and she would get distracted, and plus the game never sparked her interest since she was eight. Giving up on it, she went over to the couch and laid down. Her head propped up with the arm rest, she was able to peer up at the sky, watching the clouds roll across the sky and the blue getting darker with each passing hour, making the stars and satellites begin popping out into view. Watching the twinkle above made her slowly drift asleep.

Nick continued to watch her still features but he yearned to see her eyes sparkle up at him. Sitting down on his legs, he gently reached out to run the back of his fingers along her cheek slowly, stroking it a few times over and over.

Her sleepy eyelids began to rise, and she blinked a few times to try to make out his face. "Nick? You're back."

Hearing her voice, hearing no anger toward him, made him close his eyes as it rang in his ears. He places his forehead down on the edge of the couch cushion next to her and mumbled, "I'm sorry Miley. I shouldn't have blamed you. I'm such a conceited numbskull sometimes."

"Yes you are," she agreed.

He reached his head a little to look at her. "I'm sorry."

Miley was looking back at him and with the moonlight, his brown eyes seems much sadder than they would appear in regular light, and they seemed bigger, making her heart go a bit wild. "It was stupid, Nick..."

"I know..." He stayed quiet, he had already said he was sorry twice and didn't want to seem desperate for her to forgive and he didn't want to over use it the words and have them lose their meaning.

She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, placing her head along her arm, next to his ear. "I'm sorry too," she whispered.

Placing his hands on her ribs, he pushed her away gently so he would be able to kiss her, but she kept her arms around his curl covered head. Nick helped her stand up and then he took her place on the couch and she laid down on him., her body on top of his, her legs trailing off down between his that were bent up around her, securing her in place. She was facing up, looking out at the stars again with his arms wrapped around her, her head was on his chest. The silence filling the room now, was different than before, somehow.

After a little while, she sighed and asked in a low voice, "how long do you think we can make this work?"

"What do you mean? Do you have doubts or something?"

She shrugged. "Its just-..." She rolled over to face him, Nick loosened his grip around her but didn't let her completely go. "While you were gone I had a lot of time to think... Our paychecks only come every other week, that's how minimum wage works. That's two paychecks a month, more than half of it will go to bills- medical, car insurance, the light bill, gas for the stove and the water bill... Living paycheck to paycheck is going to be really hard, especially when most of it is already spent before it gets here..."

He saw she was concerned. She just needed a little reassurance, he thought. "We will make it work. We'll be okay. Trust me." He gave her a little squeeze but he knew she was still worried.

Miley laid her head down, her cheek laying on the his hard chest, her eyes looking around the room. "This place is so small."

"We wont always live like this." After a moment had passed, he spoke a promise. "One day. We will move into a bigger and better, place, one up on a hill over looking the ocean and the view of the stars will be a lot wider than this window. If I promise you anything… it's that." He leaned and kissed the end of her nose. "You can hold me to it."

***Yeah I really dont have any excuse to why it took me SO long to write up this little chapter... Lets just call it: _i was uninspired &lazy_, shall we? We all have those moments...  
Ending soon.**


	6. Crunch Time

It was now the end of the month. Time to pay bills.

Miley sat down on the bed with the stack of bills next to her, along with the check book, a calculator, and pen. She opened the first envelope. Her health insurance. Fifty dollars. Nick's health insurance. Seventy-five dollars, since he was always getting some kind of bug cause of his low immune system. Then the next was car insurance. Sixty-five dollars.

_One hundred and ninety _gone...

Since they didn't have a TV, they saved there. But they still had to pay electricity which was forty dollars. And they had to pay the landlord, which covered the water and heating. Two hundred and ninety-five dollars.

_Five hundred and twenty-five _gone...

Then they had the gas for the car. Seventy dollars. And roughly a hundred for minutes for Nick's phone.

_Six hundred and ninety-five _dollars gone just like that, in a matter of a few minutes, before they could even touch it.

She used the calculator to find out what was what –how much was going out and how much they would have to hold over until their next pay checks come. They only got paid every other week and it wasn't much –sweeping floors and cleaning out hair traps at a salon and Nick's cart-retrieving job didn't exactly pay a King's salary.

They would only have eighty dollars left over, to last until the next pay check. That's enough for a pair of pants and maybe a nice bra at her favorite clothing store. It was then, while staring down at the numbers on the thin horizontal screen, she realized this was going to be a lot more tough than she thought it was going to be. Now she didn't have her father's money to help buy and pay things for her. She was understanding the value of a dollar.

"Buying groceries cost almost double that..." She said to herself quietly. And there were still those necessary things like soap and female products that you couldn't go without. Plus there were medicines like pain relievers, allergy pills and Pepto-Bismol for cranky stomachs. She sank back against the couch and sighed. "How are we going to make this work?" She closed her eyes.

When Nick came walking out in a towel, she was sitting cross legged on the bed and her elbows on her knees with her fingers cupped around her forehead as she stared down at the calculator screen and the bills in her lap. "What's wrong?"

She looked up from the mess to him. "I seriously don't know how our parents did this. I think we are in over our heads here, Nick. . ."

"What are you talking about?" He came over to the bed and sat on the edge and leaned over to her shoulder to look at everything she pointed at and explained everything.

"We won't be able to save much, if anything at all, for college. Excuse me if I seem a little bit dramatic here but at this rate we won't be able to think about college until we are maybe in our 50's. God forbid if we have kids. I don't know how people do this. And some of them do this with three or four kids! I have never felt this stressed out, ever. Not even during finals."

She might even start to think about to swear off sex to ensure she didn't get pregnant.

"Hey. . ." He rubbed her shoulder with one hand and turned her head toward him with the other. "We'll figure this out. It's going to be okay."

But his words did little to calm her nerves. She pulled away from him and started pacing beside the bed. "Were we so naïve to think we could do this?" She ran her fingers through her hair, the slight pull on the hair relieved some of the tension headache that had began to build.

His voice was more stern but still kind. "It's going to be okay. I was great at problem solving in school. Why don't we just pay some one month and then the next pay the others and alternate. . ." It sounded like a good plan to him.

"Because, Nick," she stopped pacing and looked at him, "then it just builds up and that's how people get in debut and they can't get out. Something pops up in there life - cause that's how life works - and they have to cut back by not paying a bill or two and it just builds and builds and then their credit goes bad."

"Okay." Remaining optimistic, he picked up some of the papers. "Let's see what we might be able to get rid of." His eyes scanning over the words on some of the documents. "How about we get rid of the health insurance? We'll save one hundred and twenty-five."

"You can't cancel health insurance. It's nearly impossible to get it when you do get sick. And when you do get sick, you have to pay for treatment out of pocket. There is nothing we can cut back on, Nick." She collapsed on the couch. "We need everything. Money for your phone - the only phone in which we have. Gas money to run the car. Car insurance to drive it legally."

Nick knew she was just being realistic, he could see she might have been on the verge of giving up. But he wasn't ready to go back home with his tail between his legs just yet. Everything was always hard the first time around. "Who says we have to eat at home? We could have dinner with you dad one night and the next with my parents. And we can mooch off of Joe for a change." He got a little giggle out of her and he went over to sit beside her. "Everything will work out. We just have to be extra clever, ohkayz?" He whispered the last sentence silly-like and got her to smile and relax a little more.

"Okay." She replied and gave him a kiss on the lips. Miley pulled away slightly and whispered on his moist lips, "Why aren't you dressed?"

He smirked and whispered back, "conserving laundry, baby." He winked and pushed himself enough off the couch just enough to pull off the towel and toss it aside and kissed her again.

"Mmm," she hummed against his lips and then let out a yelp as he laid down quickly and pulled her on top of him. Miley started to giggle.

Even with all the reassurance he gave her, he was starting to feel the weight of being on their own press on his shoulders, as well.

*****  
**It's been a while, you probably had to go back and re-read the story, haha.  
But I can't promise faster posts, I wish I could though. Im sorry:/  
Review, please?


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